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Jean Epstein, Young Oceans of Cinema

Directed by James Schneider.
France, 2011, DCP, color, 68 min.
French with English subtitles.
DCP source: Cinémathèque Française

Epstein has always been better known in France than in the US, but only in the last decade has international interest in his filmmaking beyond The Fall of the House of Usher been revived. One important moment in the rediscovery of Epstein is this overview of his life and work by American filmmaker James Schneider, which was produced by the Cinémathèque Française. Schneider, using archival footage and interviews, focuses on Epstein the Breton filmmaker, returning to the coastal locations in Brittany of such films as Le tempestaire and Mor’vran. Schneider poignantly contrasts the lonely grandeur of these locations with Epstein’s own marginal position within the world of French cinema in the 1930s and 1940s.

Part of film series

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Young Oceans of Cinema.
The Films of Jean Epstein

Current and upcoming film series

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The Reincarnations of Delphine Seyrig

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Rosine Mbakam, 2025 McMillan-Stewart Fellow